Chapter 121: The Clockwork Jesus (４)

****

I opened my eyes in the infirmary of the Feynman. The Head of Support was sitting by the bed. How much time had passed? Something went wrong, didn’t it?

“What about the mission?”

The Head of Support let out a sigh.

“Dr. Geum. You should be worrying about your own condition first.”

“My body? I used the Popo Serum, so I’m not going to die. So what happened?”

“We’re still cleaning things up. The monsters holed up at the pier are putting up such fierce resistance that we’ve had no choice but to divert to Incheon Port.”

“I see.”

“If you’d like, Director, you can take a helicopter back at any time.”

“Um, where are the remaining monsters? Are they still alive?”

The Head of Support checked her phone.

“The task force and the Korean military’s special anomaly response unit are currently engaged in combat. We don’t yet know how many casualties there are.”

“Should I go join the fight now? If there’s a helicopter ready on deck, I’ll go kill them and come back.”

“I just texted the ship’s medical staff. I told them the Director is showing signs of delirium and to come administer a sedative. Don’t even think about moving.”

I see. That’s harsh.

“Understood.”

“The research team is currently collecting the remains of the clockwork angel. Aside from that monster’s crystal brain, they plan to seal everything in resin. It keeps twitching.”

Transparent resin. A method frequently used to seal anomalies. The researchers like it because you can see what’s inside.

I nodded.

“But. What exactly did you take it down with? How does something survive a nuclear bomb?”

“Ah, the clockwork angel?”

It was something worth thinking about.

“Well. The nuclear blast went off underwater. Most of the shockwave would have hit the sea surface and reflected back downward. What we could hope for was the angel melting from the vaporized steam.”

“Right?”

“It’s qualitatively different from an atmospheric nuclear detonation. Almost no extreme heat, and most of the shockwave was reflected off the water’s surface or dissipated. The direct effect on the angel was being drenched in steam heated to several thousand degrees, but…”

“That wasn’t enough to kill it?”

Correct.

“Bizarre.”

“It’s just physics. We threw it into the sea precisely to control the force of the blast.”

That’s just the nature of a nuclear explosion.

Why the clockwork angel was so strong is honestly a mystery. Did it gather many fragments of the clockwork god? Or was there another reason?

****

The Head of Support pressed her temple.

“The clockwork angel. It was utterly obliterated, like killing a fly with a chainsaw. There were sword marks all over the deck too, wounds carved deep into the plating. What did you take it down with?”

Ah, she’s talking about that.

“Nigurath-5. An object made by the cultists of pitch-black darkness. It’s hard to predict precisely, but I believe at least 800 people’s worth of blood was used in its creation.”

The Head of Support mulled it over for a moment before speaking.

“Um, Dr. Geum. There’s no guarantee the blood used came from dead people, is there? They might have robbed a blood bank somewhere.”

Ah, why didn’t I think of that?

I sat on the bed and scratched my head. They could have made it with donated blood, no need to kill anyone.

“Let’s make some too.”

“Hmm.”

“Make six or seven and supply them to the task force. If we use animal blood, literally dozens; with human blood it’d be harder, but if we buy blood from China, making several would be no problem at all.”

“Do whatever you like once we’re back. For now, rest. Until we return to the Foundation facility.”

I nodded.

That’s fair.

A moment later, someone who looked like a nurse walked into the room. Holding a syringe that looked like a sedative in her hand.

“Ah, giving an injection on a rocking ship is such a pain… Director. By any chance, do you know who the current president is?”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s a delirium screening tool.”

I thought she was joking.

****

Korean government, Special Phenomena Emergency Response Committee meeting. Emergency convocation due to the earthquake (not).

Last time, they’d been caught off guard by the Director’s raid. So this meeting wasn’t held at the known Ministry of National Defense building in Yongsan, but at some undisclosed location. Most attendees joined via video conference.

“Wait, you said you’d keep them in check.”

“Do you think Director Geum is some civic group chairman? That thing is a demigod.”

“A demigod?”

“That bastard says ‘rain,’ and it rains. Says ‘earthquake,’ and the ground shakes. Says ‘stop the rain,’ and it stops. This is the same.”

“Couldn’t you at least make requests?”

“When Foundation personnel fought each other on Jeju Island, we naturally deployed friendly forces and Korean military aircraft to the scene to assess and control the situation. Do you know what happened?”

The Bureau of Special Phenomena Chief of Special Phenomena vented his frustration.

“What happened?”

“A typhoon suddenly blew in. Not only were Korean military aircraft grounded, even naval vessels couldn’t deploy properly. And that’s not all—do you know KakaoTalk service was suspended today too? Officially, they said traffic spiked because of the earthquake.”

“They cut it deliberately for information control?”

“There was a monster sighting off the west coast. I suspect it was part of a Foundation information control operation.”

“I see.”

The Bureau of Special Phenomena Chief pressed his temples.

“Still, we did get something today. They gave us some kind of secure communication terminal—a hotline, they called it. Let me try connecting now.”

*Crackle. Fizz.*

*Pop.* The tablet PC powered on.

[Connecting…]

[Connecting…]

[Connecting…]

[Connected.]

“You’re from the Foundation, right? We’re contacting you regarding the earthquake. What on earth happened?”

A brief rustling sound.

[Hello. I’m Section Chief Han, of the newly established External Communications Division at the Foundation’s Korea Branch. A pleasure to work with you, public servants.]

“Why did a nuclear bomb go off?”

Han Seoha thought for a moment.

[Ah. There seems to have been a miscommunication.]

[The nuclear explosion occurred in the course of the Foundation’s operation, when we encountered a monster and were compelled to respond with maximum firepower. Our apologies. We’ve already handled the cleanup.]

“What kind of monster, exactly?”

[It has been neutralized. If you wish, we would be happy to cooperate with local—ah, with government scientists on on-site investigation and research into the monster’s remains.]

The Bureau of Special Phenomena Chief sighed.

“Section Chief Han. It seems we’ll have many occasions to contact each other going forward. Would it be possible to meet in person?”

A moment of deliberation.

[Ah. Certainly. If you give us a time and place, we’ll do our best to accommodate.]

****

[Pier Battle Report]

[Filed by: Catfish Team Leader]

[I thought we were going to die. It’s a miracle our entire unit made it back alive. Other units deployed in the operation did take casualties. My deepest condolences.]

[The pier had been occupied by multiple humanoid anomalies belonging to the Machine Cult. Plus one excavator.]

[The machine god’s followers are believed to have used trucks and excavators to breach the fences and walls around the pier before entering.]

[The unexpected part was this.]

[I expected to fight humans, but most of what we faced today were beings so steeped in the machine god’s… ‘grace’ that they could no longer be called human.]

[We’d anticipated this to some degree. That’s why we’d procured anti-materiel rifles for situations like this.]

[But fighting with one of those looks ridiculous. I felt like a British soldier carrying a musket.]

[Anyway. Most of the enemies we fought today were beings so steeped in the machine god’s ‘grace’ that, in plain terms, they’d been transformed into something like cyborgs.]

[They kept fighting even with limbs blown off. Bullets to the head bounced off halfway.]

[If we’d been using smaller-caliber rounds, or if the enemy had been wearing body armor, it might’ve been better to just fight them with hammers.]

****

[Re: Pier Battle Record]

[Filed by: Geumbari]

[I’m reviewing the battle record. Sorry I couldn’t be there at the pier in person. The fight on the high seas ran longer than expected.]

[I am reviewing it. I’m looking into how the clockwork bastards responded so quickly, and where they were hiding.]

[I don’t think an answer will come easily. But we did recover several crystals. You know the ones — the crystals with souls in them.]

****

[Taean County Earthquake]

[Filed by: External Communications Division, Han Seoha]

[I can’t work like this.]

[My job is to coordinate positions with the government, and a nuclear bomb goes off on my first day on the job? At this rate, isn’t an arrest warrant going to come down on me? Isn’t the NIS going to come after me?]

[Handle that kind of work directly from the Director’s Office. This is insane. No — think of it as any other company. You show up for your first day in customer support, and a fucking nuclear bomb goes off in front of a customer’s house!]

[Ah. I’m not coming to work starting tomorrow. Hire someone new or reinstate me to my original position, do whatever you want.]

****

[Re: Taean County Earthquake]

[Filed by: HR Section Chief, Min Ari]

[Well, after reviewing the case, I can fully understand why you’re angry. But would you mind reconsidering the resignation just once?]

[I’ll relay the other matters to the Director myself. Just please don’t resign — and let me apologize again.]